1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of medical treatment and general care apparatus for the human body and human skin. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of vibrational apparatus for facial health and beauty care.
2. Description of The Prior Art
Many different types of human body and skin health and beauty care apparatus, especially vibrational therapy mask apparatus, have been introduced and produced in the prior art. The following is a list of the prior art patents representing the development in the most relevant areas:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,954 issued to Kalsi on June 27, 1989 for "Oculofacial Massager" (hereafter the "Kalsi Patent").
2. U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,140 issued to Stoffregen on Mar. 22, 1988 for "Vibratory Against Body With Belt Having Elastic Strap" (hereafter the "Stoffregen Patent").
3. U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,787 issued to Jacobs on Mar. 11, 1986 for "Acupressure Apparatus" (hereafter the "Jacobs Patent").
4. U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,303 issued to Williams on Aug. 10, 1982 for "Stimulating Apparatus" (hereafter the "Williams Patent").
5. U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,112 issued to Weihs on Nov. 14, 1978 for "Transmission Members For Electro-Vibratory Massage Appliances" (hereafter the "Weihs Patent").
6. U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,981 issued to Bachmann on Oct. 11, 1977 for "Massaging Method & Apparatus" (hereafter the "Bachmann Patent").
7. U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,142 issued to Whitney on Sept. 6, 1977 for "Beauty Paddle" (hereafter the "Whitney Patent").
8. U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,795 issued to Solhkhah on July 29, 1975 for "Vibrator Belt" (hereafter the "Solhkhah Patent").
9. U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,781 issued to Kaye on Jan. 26, 1971 for "Vibratory Facial Mask" (hereafter the "Kaye Patent").
10. U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,736 issued to Roberts et al on Nov. 18, 1969 for "Massage Device" (hereafter the "Roberts Patent").
11. U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,517 issued to Keller on June 6, 1967 for "Heating And Vibrating Device" (hereafter the "Keller Patent").
12. U.S. Pat. No. 1,965,424 issued to Mascolo on July 3, 1934 for "Facial Treatment Apparatus" (hereafter the "Mascolo Patent").
13. East German Patent No. 233,074 issued on Feb. 19, 1986 (hereafter the "East German Patent").
14. U.S.S.R. Patent No. 839,536 issued on June 23, 1981 (hereafter the "first U.S.S.R. Patent").
15. U.S.S.R. Patent No. 984,476 issued on Jan. 5, 1983 (hereafter the "second U.S.S.R. Patent").
16. West German Patent No. 25 20 535 issued on Nov. 25, 1976 (hereafter the "West German Patent").
17. French Patent No. 943,452 issued on Mar. 9, 1949 (hereafter the "first French patent").
18. French Patent No. 2,285,115 issued on Apr. 16, 1976 (hereafter the "second French Patent").
The following is a detailed review of the prior art patents listed above.
The Mascolo Patent discloses a facial treatment apparatus used for treating a person's face with heated steam through a thick towel. It comprises an electrically heated steam generator, a closed cup to contain medicament through which the steam passes, and a mask formed of flexible rubber for fitting over the person's face. The mask has a double wall with a steam space therebetween and the inner wall is perforated for passage of steam.
The Keller Patent discloses a heating and vibrating device used for administering combined heat treatment and vibratory massage to the head, neck and upper torso region of a person. It comprises a head and shoulder cover device containing heating elements as well as vibrating elements. The cover device of the Keller Patent is made of light, multi-layer fabric material having a serpentine network of resistance heating elements sewn within the layers of the fabric throughout its extent.
The Roberts Patent discloses a massage device used for massaging the temple areas of a person's head. It comprises a pair of temple massage units constructed to be worn on the person 's head in a manner similar to headphones and imparting the vibration to the temple areas for relieving simple tension and headache.
The Kaye Patent discloses a vibratory facial mask used for treating facial areas to improve skin complexion, tone, texture and firmness. It comprises a mask made of smooth, soft, resilient, foam-like material within which is fully embedded vibratory means for imparting vibrations to side facial areas and chin areas. It further comprises means for holding the mask and vibratory unit for imparting vibration to back neck portions.
The Solhkhah Patent discloses a vibrator belt used for providing a pulsating or vibratory motion against a wearer's body. It comprises a plurality of rotatable members linked together by a flexible rod and a drive means to rotate the rod which in turn revolves the rotatable members, causing the pulsating motion to be generated forward and back from the wearer's body.
The Whitney Patent discloses a beauty paddle used for stimulating the skin and blood circulation. It comprises a rotatable multiple blade paddle, a driving means such as an electronic motor, and a control means such as a switch.
The Bachmann Patent discloses a massage method and apparatus used for massaging particular portions of the body. It comprises, in one preferred embodiment, a face mask made out of a pliable member and having a plurality of compressible fingers mounted on the inward side of the face mask for contacting and massaging the face portion. The vibrations are generated by a plurality of coaxially arranged, separately energized motors.
The Weihs Patent discloses a transmission member for electro-vibratory massage appliances used for transmitting electro-vibration to massage a part of a human body. It comprises a fluid-filled member, preferably a rubber bag, having a closable aperture and a vibration portion which is either a mounting for a vibratory source or a permanently attached vibration source. Variations in the degree of vibrations transmitted may be achieved by providing a composite transmission means having two or more transmission members and more than one vibration source.
The Williams Patent discloses a stimulating apparatus for applying vibratory treatment to selected body regions, such as the cervical or lumbar regions to stimulate muscle activity in these regions. It comprises a single unit or two assembled units with a vibrating or stimulating device located on each side thereof. The body of the apparatus is formed of a flexible and resilient, substantially hard plastic material having an inner layer of soft, porous material.
The Jacobs Patent discloses an acupressure apparatus for applying vibrational pressure evenly to a plurality of preselected acupressure points on a shaded portion of a living body such as upon the face. It comprises, in one preferred embodiment, a mask housing and a flexible membrane secured to the mask housing to form an enclosed chamber for containing fluid, and a plurality of protrusions carried on the flexible membrane. The vibration is evenly transferred to the plurality of protrusions which in turn exert vibrational pressure on the plurality of preselected acupressure points.
The Stoffregen Patent discloses a vibratory massager retained against the body with a belt having an elastic strap used for therapeutic exercises. It comprises several belts of varying sizes, to which one or two vibrator units can be releasably attached for use on various parts of a wearer's body. It further comprises an elastic band on each belt to press the vibratory unit firmly against the belt web when the belt is tightened so as to prevent irritation-producing movement between the belt and the wearer's skin.
The Kalsi Patent discloses an oculofacial massager for simultaneously providing a massaging action to the eye, nose and temple areas of a wearer. It comprises a contoured frame contacting the wearer's face and a vibration generating device providing vibration to the frame which is transmitted to the facial muscles contacting the frame.
The first French Patent discloses a facial mask used for massaging and strengthening the facial muscles. It is not a vibrational apparatus.
The second French Patent discloses a vibratory muscular treatment apparatus used for massaging the upper facial areas around the eyes. The apparatus is shaped like a frame of a part of eyeglasses which merely massages areas around the eyes, but not the whole facial area.
The West German Patent disclose a partial or complete facial massage mask with one or more oscillators built into handles attached to the mask. The vibration is imparted to the facial area by the mask which is totally made of solid state materials.
The first U.S.S.R. Patent discloses a muscle massage apparatus used for providing vibrations in areas of projections of bone, or near to where tendons of muscle to be treated are attached to increase he strength of the skeletal muscles and restoring their function in hypotrophy or after intense muscular work. It is essentially a muscle therapy apparatus, rather than a facial health and skin care apparatus.
The second U.S.S.R. Patent discloses a vibratory apparatus used for reducing the length of time required for rehabilitation after a scoliosis operation. It performs the vibration treatment on the active skin zones of the plantar surface of the feet.
The East German Patent disclose a switching circuit for a type of sonic massage apparatus used for massaging the lungs or other bodily organs. It uses a sound generator to generate sound waves with certain frequency and loudness which in turn give vibratory massage to the lungs. It is not a skin massage apparatus, but rather an internal massage apparatus especially for bronchial-asthma treatment which clears the breathing passage of phlegm and/or other foreign bodies and treats cramp without the use of medicaments.
The overall review of the prior art patents provides the following conclusion. Some of them, such as the Mascolo Patent, the Whitney Patent and the first French Patent, are not vibrational but rather heating or rotational or other apparatus. Many of them, such as the Solhkhah Patent, the Weihs Patent, the Williams Patent, the Stoffregen Patent and the first and second U.S.S.R. patents, are not facial mask apparatus designed for facial care but rather a bag, belt or the like apparatus designed for other body parts such as neck, shoulders, upper arms, back or waist, thighs, calves and feet. Among the vibrational facial mask apparatus, some of them, such as the Roberts Patent, the Kalsi Patent, the second French Patent and the East German Patent, only impart vibrations to certain limited facial areas such as the eye, nose, ears and temple areas for special treatment purposes; some of them, such as the Bachmann Patent and the Jacobs Patent, impart vibration to the whole facial area but in a so-called "point-contact" manner where only a plurality of protrusions contact the facial skin for certain special treatment such as acupressure treatment.
As to the rest of the prior art patents, the Keller Patent, the Kaye Patent and the West German Patent, which comprise a vibrational facial mask imparting the vibration to the whole facial area in a "surface-contact" manner where the entire inward side of the mask contacts the facial skin smoothly, all of them are using solid state materials such as fabric materials, foam-like materials or plastic materials for their facial mask to distribute the vibration wave. The disadvantage of solid state material is that the frequency spectrum of the harmonic vibrational waves is narrowed by the physical size and shape of the solid state material, and the amplitudes of the harmonic vibration waves are not equal in different directions. Therefore, while many different types of facial care apparatus have been introduced and produced, there is still a strong desire to have a new type of therapy mask apparatus for facial health and beauty care which imparts vibration to the whole facial area in a "surface-contact" manner and uses materials other than solid state materials as transmitting media to broaden the frequency spectrum of the harmonic vibrational waves substantially and equalize the amplitude of the harmonic vibrational waves transmitted in different directions, so that the facial skin and muscle tissue are more gently and evenly stimulated.